Marat Safin of Russia acknowledged that the chance to win from Nikolay Davydenko is very slim.
Photo: Alexey Kudenko
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Russians Split Into Pairs
The Russians will play in both semifinals of the Kremlin Cup women’s section. But to progress there, Svetlana Kuznetsova will clash with Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva will oppose Nadia Petrova. In the men’s event, Nikolay Davydenko plays Marat Safin for the place in the semifinal. The chance to win from Davydenko is very slim, Safin acknowledged.
Those Russians that won at the Kremlin Cup yesterday did it fast and with no problems. Nadia Petrova needed less than two sets to prevail over Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, who withdrew in the middle of the second set referring to the injury. Petrova faces Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinal. They played ten WTA matches and the record is 5:5 yet, but Dementieva prevailed in four of the last five meetings.
The second pair is Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina that saw off the opponents to book a quarterfinal rendezvous. The outcome is difficult to predict, although Safina defeated Kuznetsova in the Tokyo final late September.
In other women's matches, in-form Vera Zvonareva overwhelmed Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova (6-1 6-0) to progress to the quarterfinal match vs. Dominika Cibulkova, who beat ex-world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic.
The Kremlin Cup would have turned into Russia’s tennis championship but for the yesterday’s loss of Vera Dushevina to injured Jelena Jankovic. Jankovic had treatment on the hip after the third game of the first set to beat the Russian 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-2.
In the men's singles, top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, who is bidding for his third Kremlin Cup title in a row progressed to the last eight after crushing Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1 6-1. Davydenko will play fellow Russian Marat Safin, who saw off French Julien Benneteau 6-4 6-0 6-2. Safin is very pessimistic about the outcome but promised to make an attempt.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 10, 2008
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